Picnic Pie

Mum called it Picnic Pie .

Back then it was greeted with great excitement at pot luck teas as a tastier and lighter version of bacon and egg pies.

Now it would probalby be called a quiche.

Pastry – filo or flakey.

Bacon,    1 or 2 onions,  6 -8 eggs,  

corn, grated cheese,  mixed herbs. 

Any other vegetables eg tomato, red pepper, asparagus . . .

Put bacon and roughly chopped onion into kitchen whizz  & process briefly until chopped but not pureed.

Add eggs & process.

Mum used to make her own pastry, I used to too but – partly because it’s lower in fat and patrly because it’s easier – I buy filo pastry now.

Line a pie dish with pastry (four or five sheets of filo pastry, each sheet lightly greased with melted butter, is plenty).

Sprinkle with mixed herbs (about 1 teaspoon).

Sprinkle with corn and grated cheese (as little or much as you like) and other vegetables.

Pour in egg mixture and bake for about 20 mintues at 180 degrees.

Mum used the same mixture to make cheese boats:

Line muffin tins with thin sliced bread, butter side down, pour in mixture as for the pie and cook 180 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Susan’s got talent – updated

There’s no shame in being the second best talent in Britain and Susan Boyle was gracious in defeat.

In last night’s final she sang I Dreamed a Dream, the song she’d sung in her audition.

She has not only dreamed a dream, she’s helped other people dream too.

And while she hasn’t won Britain’s Got Talent, she has launched her own career.

A video of her final performance is here.

The winner was Diversity.

Saxaphonist Julian Smith came third.

Upadte: Youtube has the video:

Deborah Wai Kapohe – Your Love Captures Me

When looking for Po Atarau – Now is the Hour for this morning’s post I came across a version by Deborah Wai Kapohe which led me in turn to this, offered as a bonus song on the last day of New Zealand Music Month.

Deborah Wai Kapohe – Your Love Captures Me:

Kea spotted – no passport

At the top of the Rob Roy glacier walk we met a kea.

It had a red band around it’s left leg, but it didn’t have a passport.

We also spotted a family of mice.

We were just above the bushline, there was snow on the ground and wondered what they live on and why they live there.

Update: Rob’s got a much better photo of a kea  at the same spot.

The best day walk in the world

The road from Wanaka travels up the side of the lake, past Glendhu Bay then past Treble Cone, Cattle Flat Station and on to Aspiring Station, into the West Matukituki Valley to the end of the road at Raspberry Hut.

After a fifteen minute amble along the side of the river we came to a swing bridge across the river and in to the bush to start the Rob Roy Glacier walk.

After a  good hour’s climb on a clearly marked track we came out of the bushline and less than 10 minutes later we reached the end of the track.

One of the signs at the top has an extract from a book written by Maud Moreland who did the walk in 1908.

We were now at the entrance of a gorge that looked as if the mountains had been cleft by some terrific force: on one side they rose black and precipitous with trees clinging wherever they could find a little soil but generally they were sheer walls of rock. On our side the mountains were clothed to within a few hundred feet of the top with dense bush.

Leaving the horses tied below we began a toilsome ascent through a belt of tutu – a stout herb growing as high as our shoulders. This bit was very steep, followed by a belt of fern, then across screeds of slate, shale and faces of bare rock with only cracks for footholds when we clung by our fingertips.

The heat grew greater every moment and the glare from the rocks scorched us and made us terribly thirsty as we worked our way from gully to gully.

After a tedious climb we at last saw the head of the gorge – a wonderful sight on which not many eyes have gazed. It is closed by a semi circle of cliffs, precipitous and black. And wedged as it were between three mountain peaks lies an enormous glacier. Not a long river of ice, but a mighty mass of ice, breaking off sharp at the top of the stupendous peaks.

How much easier it was for us today, on a well formed track and not encumbered by the clothes a young woman would have had to wear in 1908.

This is the fifth time I’ve done the walk, although the first time in winter. Each time I’m awe struck by the beauty from the river flats, through the bush to the view of the glacier.

A friend reckons it’s the best day walk in the county.

In my – biased and parochial opinion – I agree and that puts it up with the best day walks in the world.

The Willow Singers: Po Atarau – Now is the Hour

Tempus is fugiting (fugitting?) faster than ever.

Here we are on the last day of May and day 31 of the tune a day challenge for New Zealand Music Month.

It’s increased my knowledge and appreciation of New Zealand music and musicians.

Since it’s good bye to music month, I’ve chosen a song of farewell: Po Atarau – Now is the Hour – sung by the Willow Singers: soprano Hannah Timms, alto Valarie Tan and baritone Issac Stone.

Congratulations to Keeping Stock and Inquiring Mind who accepted, and succeeded, in the challenge of posting a song a day and Rob who made it on nearly every day.

Their posts yesterday were:

Johnny Devlin at Keeping Stock

Greg Johnson sings Looking out on Monday at Inquiring Mind

Herbs Listen and Graham Brazier, Harry Lyon and Hammond Gamble sing Sea of Heartbreak at Rob’s.